rctno 


Conf  Pam  l2mo  #916 

1^113^55* 


No.  32. 

DON'T  SWEAR! 


BY  REV.  J.  B.  JETER,  D.  D.,  RICHMOND,  VA. 


Why  should   you?     Profane  swearing  is  an 
unprofitable  practioe.     Other  sins  may  yield  you 
a  momentary  advantage,  or   pleasure,  but   this 
cannot.     No  man  will  respect  you  the  more,  you 
will  not  even  have  a  higher  self-respect,  because 
you  swear.     None  will  believe  your  word  more 
readily  because  you  confirm  it  by  an  uncalled  for 
oath.     No  man  of  sense  deems   the  practioe  a 
mark  of  good  breeding,   intelligence,  honor   or 
courage.     No  person  could  be  admitted  into  good 
society,  or  put  into  a  post  of  trust  and  emolument, 
on  the  olaim  that  he  swears,  or  excels  in  the  art 
of  swearing.     If  it  makes  any  man  appear  great, 
it  is  only  in  his  own  eyes.     If  it  yields  any  plea- 
sure, it  is  only  such  as  a  fiend  might  enjoy.     It 
has  not  even  the  excuse  of  a  strong  temptation. 
It  originates  in  no  natural  craving  of  mans  phys- 
ical, intellectual  or  moral  nature.    There  ie  a 


fish,  caljed  the  Fool  fish,  that  will  bite  at  a  naked 
hook  to  its  own  destruction.  We  wonder  at  its 
lack  of  the  instinct  of  self-preservation ;  but  we 
wonder  more  that  man,  created  in  the  image  of 
God,  endowed  with  reason  and  conscience, 
should  indulge  in  profanity  from  the  pure  love  of 
sinning. 

Swearing  is  not  only  unprofitable  but  impolite. 
The  truly  polite  man  will  do  nothing  that  may 
inflict  needless  pain  on  others.  Pious  people 
hold  the  name  of  God  in  great  reverence.  They 
are  grieved  when  they  hear  it  blasphemed,  or 
lightly  used.  Some  years  ago,  an  eminent  cler- 
gyman said  to  a  person  whom  he  ch  need  to  meet, 
"You  have  hurt  my  feelings."  "I  am  sure," 
said  the  man,  "  I  did  not  intend  to  hurt  your 
feelings.  What  have  I  done?"  '^You  have 
spoken  lightly  of  my  Father,  "  replied  the  cler- 
gyman. "  You  must  be  mistaken,  "  returned  the 
accused;  "  when  did  I  speak  lightly  of  your 
father ?"  " £od  is  my  Father,"  answered  the 
minister,  "  and  I  heard  you  uttering  his  name 
lightly  and  irreverently."  ."I  beg  your  pardon," 
said  the  astonished  man.  "  That  will  not  do,  " 
replied  the  pious  clergyman,  "  You  have  offended 
God,  and  you  must  ask  pardon  of  him."  From 
that  moment  the  conscience-smitten  sinner,  from 
whose  lips  the  writer  received  the  story,  ceased 


to  swear  and  began  to  pray.  "Who  does  not  per- 
eeive  that  to.  use  the  name  of  a  father  with  levity 
or  disrespect  in  the  presence  of  his  son  is  a  breach 
of  politeness?  Is  it  less  a  breach  of  politeness 
to  outrage  the  feelings  of  the  pious  by  language 
of  profanity  and  blasphemy? 

But,  it  may  be  said,  polite  men  do  swear.  It 
is  admitted  that  men  polite  in  other  respects  may 
be  profane — and  profane  to  the  modification  and 
grief  of  their  pious  friends;  but  their  profanity 
is  a  blot  on  their  fair  character  for  politeness. 
And  if  their  politeness  is  not  a  mere  sham — a 
thin  vail  to  conceal  their  vulgarity — they  will  be 
prompt  to  acknowledge  that  their  profanity  is  in 
derogation  of  their  politeness. 

It  is  not  enough  to  affirm  that  swearing  is 
impolite — it  is  vulgar.  It  is  emphatically  a  low 
bred  vice.  It  is  a  cheap  sin.  To  adopt  the  prac- 
tice, or  to  become  a  proficient  in  it,  requires 
neither  genius,  nor  learning,  nor  wit,  nor  money, 
nor  principle,  nor  character.  The  swearer's  whole 
stock  in  trade  is*  a  vulgar  taste,  a  frivolous  or 
malignant  spirit,  a  few  hackneyed  phrases  that 
may  be  easily  picked  up  in  the  haunts  of  dissipa- 
tion, a  forehead  of  brass,  and  a  tongue  unpalsied* 
by  the  God  whom  it  blasphemes.  Thus  furnish- 
ed he  is  prepared  to  go  forth  and  take  a  promin- 
ent position  among  those  who  by  swearing  make 


the  land  mourn.  Jer.  xxiii,  10.  This  vice  may 
be  found  among  the  rich,  the  learned  and  refined ; 
but  it  flourishes  most  among  the  ignorant,  the 
mean  and  the  degraded.  Its  native  haunts  are 
the  bar  room,  the  grogshop,  the  theatre,  the 
brothel,  the  dark  and  filthy  lanes  of  the  city,  the 
prisons  and  penitentiaries,  and  the  degraded 
habitations  of  men. 

There  are  still  stronger  reasons  why  you  should 
not  swear.  Swearing  is  a  wicked  practice.  It 
is  written,  "  Tliou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the 
Lord  thy  God  in  vain."  Ex.  xx,  7.  "  Who  is 
like  unto  thee,  0  Lord,  amoixg  iJie  gods  ?  wlio  is 
like  unto  thee,  glorious  in  holiness,  fearful  in 
praises,  doing  wonders  ?"  Ex.  xx.  ii.  "  Whowould 
not  fear  thee,  0  king  of  nations  ?  for  to  thee  doth 
it  appertain."  Jer.  x,  7.  By  how  much  God  is 
great,  good  and  glorious,  by  so  much  are  his 
intelligent  creatures  bound  to  hold  his  name  in 
reverence.  God  is  jealous  of  his  glory,  and  most 
righteously  demands  that  they  shall  render  to 
him  the  homage  due  unto  his  name.  To  utter 
his  name  lightly  in  oaths  or  curses,  is  to  treat 
him  with  an  indignity  and  contempt  which  they 
•would  not  dare  to  offer  to  a  respected  fellow 
creature.  This  sin  is  the  more  inexcusable  be- 
cause it  is  committed  against  light.  Many 
vices  are   the   excesses  of  innocent  dispositions 


and  lawful  indulgences.  They  may  imper- 
ceptibly pass  from  right  to  wrong.  The  most 
discriminating  casuist  may  not  be  able  to 
decide  at  what  point  the  right  ends  and  the 
wrong  begins.  13ut  the  line  of  demarkation 
between  the  proper  and  .the  profane  use  of  God's 
name  is  plain  and  unmistakable.  When  a  man 
takes  the  name  of  God  in  vain,  he  sins  know- 
ingly, and  often  deliberately  and  defiantly.  He 
proclaims  that  he  has  not  the  fear  of  God  before 
his  eyes — that  his  lips  are  his  own,  and  that  he 
will  utter  what  words  he  choosos. 

Swearing  soon  becomes  a  habit.  When  the 
youth  utters  his  first  oath,  he  is  filled  with  shame 
and  horror,  trembles  in  every  joint,  and  solemnly 
promises  that  he  will  swear  no  more.  Occasion- 
ally, as  passion,  or  the  desire  to  appear  manly, 
or  free  from  religious  restraints,prompts  him,  he 
repeats  the  sin.  Gradually  his  heart  is  hardened 
and  his  conscience  is  seared,  and  in  a  short  time 
he  swears,  not  only  without  compunction,  but 
without  th'ought.  The  vice  becomes  a  settled 
habit.  He  multiplies  rapidly  his  profane  vocab- 
ulary— interlards  his  common  conversation  with 
oaths,  maledictions  and  blasphemies — and  strains 
his  ingenuity  to  coin  new  and  horrid  profanities 
bearing  the  impress  of  Beelzebub. 

The  vice  of  swearing  generally  leads  to  other 


.   6 

and  sometimes  worse  evils.  More  than  almost  any 
other  sin,  profanitybegets  and  cherishes  and  im- 
pious, reckless  spirit.  The  man  who  deliberately 
trifles  with  the  name  of  his  august  Creator  and 
Judge  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  any  reverence 
for  his  laws  or  any  fear  of  offending  him.  He  may 
be  restrained  by  self-interest,  or  respect  to  public 
sentiment,  but  he  cannot  be  restrained  by  divine 
authority,  from  indulging  in  any  sin  to  which 
inclination  or  advantage  urges  him.  With  the 
appetite  of  sinning  stimulated,  and  restraining 
power  of  conscience  enfeebled,  and  the  fear  of 
God  removed  from  before  his  eyes,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  swearer  should  enter  on  a  career 
of  indulgence,  dissipation  and  wickedness,  which, 
if  not  arrested  by  grace,  will  plunge  him  into 
ruin.  In  fact,  profane  swearing  is  frequently 
associated  with  gaming,  drunkenness,  lewdness, 
and  rioting.  The  man  that  swears  opens  wide 
the  gate  to  every  sin,  and  invites  it  to  an  easy 
enterance. 

But  lastly,  swearing  excludes  its  victim  from 
heaven.  "  The  Lord  zoill  not  hold  him  guiltless 
that  taketh  his  name  in  vain."  The  "sin  of  pro- 
fanity is  lightly  esteemed  among  men,  bcause  it 
interferes  not  with  their  interests  or  pleasures; 
but  God  does  not  esteem  it  lightly.  It  violates 
his  law<  tramples  on  his  authority,  dishonors  his 


name,  and  provokes  his  just  and  fearful  indigna- 
tion. It  is  utterly  incompatible  with  piety,  or  a 
state  of  salvation.  Like  any  other  sin  if  it  is  not 
that  particular  form  of  it  denominated  ;-  blas- 
phemy against  the  Holy  Ghost/'  it  may  be 
repented  of.  forsaken  and  pardoned  ;  but  if  it  be 
cherishedj  and  persisted  in  it  must  exclude  the 
soul  from  the  kingdom  of  God.  Whoever  may 
have  a  place  there,  the  swearer  cannot.  There 
is  no  cursing  in  heaven.  There  love,  harmony 
and  praise  abound.  The  redeemer  standing 
before  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb, 
clothed  in  white  robes,  with  palms  in  their  hands, 
will  cry  with  a  loud  voice,  saying, "  Salvation  to 
our  God  which  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto 
the  Lamb."  Rev.  vii,  10.  How  discordant  would 
be  the  voice  of  cursing  and  swearing  amid  the 
Symphonies  of  heaven.  Tl}e  profane  will  find 
congenial  society  in  the  abyss  of  hell.  There 
God  and  the  Lamb  are  hated  and  blasphemed 
world  without  end.  There  those  who  have  loved 
cursing  and  swearing  will  have  their  fill  of  it. 

Why  then  mortal,  judgment-bound  man,should 
you  swear  ?  What  good  can  come  of  swearing  ? 
What  plea  can  you  ofler  in  its  defence  or  exten- 
uation ?  "  Whoever  hardened  himself  against 
God  and  prospered?"  As  rational  beings— as 
members  of  society —  as  moral  agents — as  eternity- 


destined  creatures,  you  are  solemnly  urged  to 
abandon  the  practice.  You  can  abandon  it.  It 
lies  within  the  power  of  the  natural  man,  unas- 
sisted by  divine  grace,  to  break  away  from  a 
habit  so  senseless  and  pernicious.  Thousands, 
from  mere  motive  of  self-respect,have  triumphed 
over  it,  and  you  may.  But  if  you  would  escape 
the  guilt  and  fearful  consequences  of  your  pro- 
fanity, you  must  repent  of  the  sin —  your  cursing 
must  be  changed  in  to  prayer, and  your  blasphemies 
into  praise — you  must  seek  and  obtain  forgive- 
ness by  faith  in  the  blood  of  Christ — and  secure 
succor  against  your  besetting  sin  from  the  fountain 
of  all  strength  and  grace.  Then  will  you  be 
prepared  to  pass  your  days  on  earth  safely, 
happily  and  usefully,  to  finish  your  course  with 
joy  and  to  spend  eternity  in  the  praise  and 
fruition  of  Jesus.  To  him  be  glory  and  dominion 
forever  and  ever,  Amen. 


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